Manchester City cruised through to the Champions League semi-finals for the third successive season after beating Bayern Munich 4-1 on aggregate.
City came into the game in a commanding position, goals from Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland leaving Thomas Tuchel to admit his side needed a miracle to progress.
Needing at least three to have any hope of progressing to the last four, Bayern started strongly, with Kingsley Coman a particular livewire for the Bundesliga side.
Manchester City were, however, handed the opportunity to put the tie beyond all doubt as Dayot Upamecano was judged to have handled the ball. Goal machine Erling Haaland stepped up, but surprisingly blazed his effort over the bar.
12 minutes into the second half though, the Norwegian had his goal. Kevin de Bruyne drove forward out of midfield, played the ball into the path of the striker, who, helped by a slip by Upamecano on the edge of the box, made no mistake as he fired past Yann Sommer – his 48th of the season.
Despite the impossible task facing them, Bayern continued to push forward, and having already seen a goal ruled out for offside, they levelled the scores on the night after Manuel Akanji was penalised for a handball in the box. Joshua Kimmich stepped up to fire home straight down the middle with the resulting penalty, though it was too little, too late.
The victory maintains City’s hopes of completing the treble and sets up a repeat of last season’s semi-final against Real Madrid, with the Spanish side winning 6-5 on aggregate on their way to claiming a 14th European crown.
๐ฎ๐น Inter Milan vs AC Milan ๐ฎ๐น
๐ช๐ธ Real Madrid vs Man City ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟThe UEFA Champions League semi-finals are set ๐ฅ pic.twitter.com/IBhyE3gYKr
— The Football Faithful (@FootyFaithfuI) April 19, 2023
Speaking after the game, Bernardo Silva said the team are feeling ‘consistent’ and that they ‘have a chance’ to claim all three titles.
“We struggled until February because we couldn’t get in that usual run we had before of winning 10-15 games in a row but now we are very consistent, we feel we have a chance in every competition and we are going for them,” he told BT Sport.
“We are at that point of the season where if you drop your performance in one game you are out of a competition. It is going to be tough but we are going to work very hard to bring some titles home.
“Building win after win, that confidence, it is very important and we need to keep it that way.”
Asked if they are out for ‘revenge’ against Real Madrid, he said: “Hopefully yes! We will go for it definitely. We always go for it but we feel the team is very, very confident at the minute. I think we are going through.”
City boss Pep Guardiola admitted his side ‘struggled’ in the first half, and said his side are ‘exhausted’ ahead of their FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United on Saturday.
Bernardo Silva completed more take-ons (5) than any other Bayern or Man City player.
And no player on the pitch won more duels (9). ๐ช#UCL pic.twitter.com/wfmegCSk84
— Squawka Live (@Squawka_Live) April 19, 2023
“Of course, three years in a row in the semi finals of the Champions League,” he said.
“We struggled in the first half. Upamecano broke all the lines down our left side and we struggled with Coman. We were fortunate before the penalty miss, they had one or two chances and anything could happen but we defended really well.
“The finishing from Erling was really, really good. He is so young. The experience that we have in this competition, the players feel it a lot, they want to do it really well. The second half was much, much better since minute one.
“We are exhausted. I don’t know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final]. Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday.”
